Car garage advertising rules in the UAE, and the pages AI quotes

Rule two: prices, invoices and discounts

When a supplier advertises its prices, the advertisement must not mislead, and the customer gets a dated invoice in Arabic showing the trade name, the service, its price and its details (Article 8). A price range on a job page is therefore safe ground, as long as it says what is included and what can push the bill higher, such as parts found worn once the car is opened up.

Discounts are tighter. The law prohibits promotions and general price discounts, and advertising them in any way, without a prior licence from the competent authority (Article 18). It also counts fake or unreal discounts as misleading advertising (Article 1). An evergreen 50% off banner on a service page is the kind of line that fails both tests, and it adds nothing a model would quote.

Rule three: approvals, parts and the warranty question

RTA approval is required before the Department of Economy and Tourism issues a garage's trade licence, with Dubai Municipality and Civil Defence checks alongside it (DIAC, Auto Repair Garage Licence Dubai 2026 guide). State those approvals on the site in the words the paperwork uses, and never claim one you do not hold.

Since January 2019, ESMA has required a conformity certificate for safety critical spare parts such as brakes, transmission, electrical systems and lighting, and vehicle repair workshops are among those who must comply (Gulf News, 12 November 2018). Say which parts you fit and where they come from.

On warranty, Khaleej Times reported on 7 August 2022 that a dealer should not cancel a car's warranty only because it was serviced at a workshop not tied to the dealer, provided that workshop is approved by ESMA. That is a useful line for an independent garage, and it has to be written with the condition attached.

The RTA test: write the facts, never the result

Private cars are exempt from testing for their first three years, and after that need a yearly pass before registration renewal, at AED 150 plus a AED 20 Knowledge and Innovation Fee, with the pass valid for 30 days (First Choice Cars guide, updated 8 September 2026). A pre test check page can explain all of that and list what the garage looks at before the car goes in.

What it cannot say is that the car will pass. The test is run by RTA approved centres, not by the garage, so a guaranteed pass is a claim the garage cannot back up.

What this means for each page

A garage site written this way carries fewer slogans and more plain facts than its neighbours in the industrial area. That is the advantage.

• Job pages

  The job, the makes, a price range with what is included, the usual time in the workshop and the workmanship warranty. No permanent discount, no promised result.

• Parts and warranty page

  Which parts you fit for safety critical jobs, how they are certified, and the dealer warranty position with its ESMA condition stated.

• Approvals

  Trade licence, RTA approval and any insurer panels, worded as the documents word them, in the footer and on the about page.

• Offers

  Run a seasonal offer only with its promotion licence in place, give it an end date, and take it down when it ends.

• Reviews and replies

  Ask drivers to name the job and the car. Reply with thanks and facts, never with a promise about the next repair.

Why the careful page is also the quoted page

An assistant writes its answer from sentences it can stand behind: what a garage repairs, on which cars, in which area, at roughly what price, with which approvals. Those are exactly the sentences the law is comfortable with. The slogans it frowns on are also the ones a model cannot verify, so they rarely make it into a reply.

A garage that writes to the rules is not holding anything back. It ends up with the pages an assistant prefers to quote.

This is what we write to, not legal advice. Rules change and they change quickly, so check the current rules with your regulator.